1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to determining whether a scanned original document is in color or monochrome. More specifically, the present invention relates to an image processing device and method that remove a color from a background color and handle the background color as monochrome even when the background color is chromatic, by extracting the background color of the scanned original document and masking the background color.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to determine whether a scanned original document is in color or monochrome, conventional art suggests dividing a chromaticity plane (an a*b* plane of the L*a*b* uniform color space) into 25 rectangular areas, and determining whether or not a pixel exists in each of the areas.
In the suggested conventional art, each of the 25 areas is disposed in the vicinity of the center of the chromaticity plane. Therefore, a background color area that is disposed outside the 25 areas cannot be detected. Thus, in the conventional art, it may be difficult to detect a chromatic background color (chromaticity and hue). In other words, in a color original document, it may be difficult to extract and remove a background color area that is disposed away from the center of the chromaticity plane.